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"We believe that it is possible to meet the requirements of scientific validity and conceptual adequacy within the bounds of the experimental tradition. The development of experimental work in social psychology has progressed to a stage wherein a fairly complete treatment of the entire subject matter can now be given in the light of experimentally derived knowledge. In other words, where actual experiments remain yet to be performed, the problems can even now be envisaged in terms of experimentally established facts. Specifically, the plan of organization to be followed in this book attempts an adequate, vital approach by introducing materials and problems from the point of view of different participants in the social scene. The social world as it appears to the man on the street, social phenomena as seen through the eyes of the clinician or psychiatrist, and the social drama as viewed by the social engineer or planner all provide points of departure for our study. A unity in these descriptions derives from a continuing emphasis upon naturalistic and scientific interpretation. A whole section (Part II), moreover, is devoted to a detailed analysis of the mechanisms and mainsprings of action, the motives of men, and the processes of social interaction as revealed in experimental findings. Part I is descriptive and sociological, Part II is analytical and experimental, Part III is genetic and developmental, Part IV historical and dialectical. It is hoped that the instructor will find this treatment a broad exposition which includes many phases of the behavior of the individual as he encounters the social world of his fellows. The gearing of this account to the problems of everyday life increases its vitality to the student"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).Read more...

Abstract:

"We believe that it is possible to meet the requirements of scientific validity and conceptual adequacy within the bounds of the experimental tradition. The development of experimental work in social psychology has progressed to a stage wherein a fairly complete treatment of the entire subject matter can now be given in the light of experimentally derived knowledge. In other words, where actual experiments remain yet to be performed, the problems can even now be envisaged in terms of experimentally established facts. Specifically, the plan of organization to be followed in this book attempts an adequate, vital approach by introducing materials and problems from the point of view of different participants in the social scene. The social world as it appears to the man on the street, social phenomena as seen through the eyes of the clinician or psychiatrist, and the social drama as viewed by the social engineer or planner all provide points of departure for our study. A unity in these descriptions derives from a continuing emphasis upon naturalistic and scientific interpretation. A whole section (Part II), moreover, is devoted to a detailed analysis of the mechanisms and mainsprings of action, the motives of men, and the processes of social interaction as revealed in experimental findings. Part I is descriptive and sociological, Part II is analytical and experimental, Part III is genetic and developmental, Part IV historical and dialectical. It is hoped that the instructor will find this treatment a broad exposition which includes many phases of the behavior of the individual as he encounters the social world of his fellows. The gearing of this account to the problems of everyday life increases its vitality to the student"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).